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Weekend Edition
Friday Highlight: Tonight our friend Bill Burr has a rebroadcast of his Comedy Central special "Let It Go" at 10pm. We missed the premiere a week or so ago but we're tuning in this time to his bleeped-out glory. Bill Burr mentions his special in the above piece that we did with him a couple months ago but what's amazing about him is that if you were to see him perform live tonight you'd already be looking at a completely new act. Combine that with the 15 minutes of riffed new material that he did while driving that car around Hollywood, as well as his weekly podcasts and radio gigs and you'll have some indication of what a prolific and talented comedian he is.
You might have seen Burr in Tina Fey and Steve Carrell's Date Night earlier this year but there's not nearly enough of him on TV or in the movies - tonight is your chance. Even better would be to pick up "Let It Go", his performance at the Fillmore, on DVD which is uncensored and includes a ton of extras. The man is pure comedy gold and you won't have a chance to see him live in the LA area until he does a4-night run at the Brea Improv in December. Get more info on Burr as well as his weekly (hilarious) Monday Morning Podcast at BillBurr.com
--- Saturday: Sundance's excellent series "Iconoclasts" has returned and this edition features Dr. Jane Goodall and Charlize Theron interviewing each other and letting us in on what they learn during their time hanging out. This is such a great show and this episode should be particularly interesting as these two can share a lot of their diverse experiences in Africa.
"Saturday Night Live" will feature multi-Emmy winner Bryan Cranston as host and Kanye West as the musical performer. It will be great to see Cranston get back to the comedic acting chops that made him a star on "Malcolm In The Middle" and you can bet that the "SNL" writers will definitely not let Kanye West out of the building without razzing him for his bizarre MTV VMA behavior.
--- Sunday: This is the toughest night of the week to pick with so much excellent TV. "Boardwalk Empire" continues to build momentum but the real meat of that show doesn't start for a couple more weeks, however "Dexter" has been strong out of the gate (Michael C. Hall is on Letterman tonight BTW) so we will have to defer to Showtime's serial killer. We will be forgoing "Mad Men" this week to watch HBO's "Bored To Death" which will feature the unbelievably funny cameo of series creator, Jonathan Ames, that he refers to in the video interview we did with him at the NYC series premiere (see the video excerpt at the end of this post). Ted Danson (see other clip at the end of the post) will also have incredible moments in Sunday's episode - it's the do-not-miss show of the night.
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Hmmm, so CNN has fired Rick Sanchez ostensibly forbeing upset and mouthing off in a radio interview about getting pushed out of his primetime slot by disgraced former NY governor Eliot Spitzer. There's been people at CNN who have said far worse things who are still employed or left by their own volition so this seems like a hasty judgement.
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We're very happy that Rob Corddry's "Children's Hospital" has been picked up for another season by the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. From a web series to a TV show, we predict a lot more of these migrations in the next year.
--- The winner of this week's giveaway, the Butters DVD set from "South Park" studios is: Real Irvine aka @jonsilber - congrats to him and thank you all for entering, we will have another giveaway next week, stay tuned and follow @TheTVJunkie on Twitter for updates.
--- The TV Junkie Plan: Tonight - Bill Maher, "The Goog Guys", "Bill Burr: Let It Go", Letterman (Michael C. Hall), Fallon (Helen Mirren, Aaron Sorkin). Saturday - "Iconoclasts" (Jane Goodall, Charlize Theron), "SNL" (Bryan Cranston). Sunday - "Dexter", "Bored To Death", "Eastbound & Down".
Tonight
8:00pm Dracula, Prince of Darkness TCM - (1966) Four tourists dine and spend the night at Dracula's (Christopher Lee) castle; two escape and warn a monk (Andrew Keir)
8:00pm Human Target Fox - Season Premiere.
8:00pm Real Time With Bill Maher HBO -
9:00pm The Good Guys Fox - Jack and Dan must assist a pompous forensic specialist on a burglary investigation; Liz winds up in trouble during a prostitution sting
9:45pm Dracula Has Risen From the Grave TCM - (1969) The vampire count (Christopher Lee) bites a tavern waitress and a monsignor's (Rupert Davies) niece (Veronica Carlson), then falls on something sharp.
10:00pm Bill Burr: Let It Go Comedy Central - The comic performs.
10:00pm The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret IFC - Series Premiere. Unexpectedly, Todd is placed in charge of an energy drink in the U.K.
10:00pm The Soup E! - Joel McHale and Co. rock pop culture again
10:30pm Fashion Police E! - Joan Rivers and Co. rip celeb fashion a new one
11:35pm Late Show With David Letterman CBS - Actress Blake Lively; actor Michael C. Hall; Drake performs.
11:35pm The Tonight Show With Jay Leno NBC - Journalist Meredith Vieira; actor Seth MacFarlane; Kenny Chesney performs.
12:35am The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson CBS - Actress Carey Mulligan; comic Marc Maron.
12:35am Late Night With Jimmy Fallon NBC - Actress Helen Mirren; writer Aaron Sorkin; writer Anthony Jeselnik.
Saturday
9:00pm Iconoclasts Sundance - Dr. Jane Goodall and actress Charlize Theron.
9:00pm Gun Crazy TCM - (1950) A gun fanatic (John Dall) and a sideshow sharpshooter (Peggy Cummins) team up for romance and a crime spree.
11:25pm Saturday Night Live NBC - Host Bryan Cranston; Kanye West performs.
Sunday
9:00pm Boardwalk Empire HBO - Jimmy's future is clouded by a witness to the woods massacre; Margaret gets a new job; Chalky's team pays a big price for his success.
9:00pm Rubicon AMC - Will gets a special assignment from Truxton; Tanya is asked to rejoin the team to help locate Kateb; a threat leaves Katherine afraid to leave her house
9:00pm Dexter Showtime - Dexter tries to focus on the children and fight his dark urges; Debra ends up on Quinn's doorstep.
9:00pm Desperate Housewives ABC - Lynette is angry when Renee starts spending a lot of time with Tom; Bree finds herself falling for Keith (Brian Austin Green)
9:30pm American Dad Fox - Season Premiere.
10:00pm CSI: Miami CBS - Season Premiere.
10:00pm Bored to Death HBO - Jonathan is hired by George's nemesis, Richard Antrem; Stella reveals that she is not over her first love; George has a new female urologist; Ray plots to win back Leah
10:00pm Mad Men AMC - Sterling Cooper Draper Price employees resort to scuttlebutt after an agency wide meeting is called.
10:30pm Eastbound & Down HBO - The owner of Charros agrees to promote Kenny's return to organized baseball; Kenny learns a secret about April.
"Bored To Death" starring Ted Danson, Zach Galifianakis, and Jason Schwartzman has a winner of an episode this Sunday at 10pm on HBO
Every two years, Desert X presents site-specific outdoor installations throughout the Coachella Valley. Two Los Angeles artists have new work on display.
